Atdtda31: Prince/apparition, 864-869

[Paul Nightingale]

Ch59 ends (863) with Yashmeen in Nice from Venice, thinking of Vlado and
Kit, perhaps anticipating the "fatal masked ball" that Fabrizio prepared her
for (860). The new chapter begins with Cyprian back in Venice and
"drastically in need of Signor Fabrizio" (864). Later, the Prince will refer
to "the mask [Theign] has chosen" (868).

At the outset (864) Cyprian thinks of Yashmeen, and the reader knows that
she failed to think of him. When Reef returned to Venice on 854 he was
thinking of Dally. There, his return "was likely to be no more useful than
haunting is to a ghost", a doomed attempt to replicate earlier experiences,
"turned away rather rudely ... and given the bum's rush". Here, Cyprian also
finds an address ("the old pensione in Santa Croce", 865) that fails to
transport him into the past as it presumably does for the "party of British
tourists"; and then bumps into Ratty, who fails to reject him. Indeed, Ratty
seems oblivious (insisting instantly, "We've got to talk") to time that has
passed since their last meeting. Reef's progress is shaped by the
opportunistic meeting with Pino and Rocco (bottom of 854), as Cyprian's will
be by the equally unexpected meeting with Ratty.

On 866 Cyprian manages to congratulate Ratty on his marriage while alluding
to his irritation at "the cooing couple" (bottom of 847); Ratty, in return,
updates Cyprian and the reader on Yashmeen's whereabouts ("... left in the
company of some American", 866) before introducing Piprake. This passage is
a brief interlude leading to Cyprian's visit to the Prince on 867: here, he
replays, more successfully, Reef's visit to Ca' Spongiatosta on 854. If
Cyprian stands in for Reef, replaying that scene, one might also suggest
that Piprake, enjoying a degree of intimacy with Ratty, stands in for
Cyprian there: the last time Cyprian and Ratty met (in Graz, 808-810) there
was space, amid "this Bosnian pickle" (808) to reminisce (Ratty's "gaze full
of rain in the quadrangles ..." etc, 810) and even an apology of sorts
("only a youthful idea of ragging"). Back to Ch60 and, after a fashion,
Piprake is "ragging" Ratty: "Your bride's never complained ..." etc (866).

Pretty much the first thing the Prince says ("Exactly what you said last
time ..." etc, 867) takes Cyprian back to an earlier meeting. The Prince
refers here to "a former mutual acquaintance" whom we take to be Theign, and
we can track the relationship as it has unfolded.

On 730 a summary of "[t]he Principessa's daily life" includes " a relation
not so much to the Prince as to his absence"; the subsequent page describes,
from Dally's pov, "a dapper English individual named Derrick Theign" (731).
Theign's presence "more often" signifies the presence of the Prince;
otherwise, the latter spends a lot of time absent. Earlier, when the
Principessa is introduced on 582, taking Dally somewhat by surprise ("She
was expecting an older woman with ruinous features ..."), the narrative
records the fact of the Prince's existence, but no more. Again from Dally's
pov this comes as something of an afterthought: "There was a Prince, too,
but he was seldom around." And now: "The Princess was nowhere to be seen
..." (867).

At the bottom of the page the prince notes his wife's modernist tastes ("a
pale cream writing desk"), before indicating his own preference for "the
more ancestral" (top of 868). And then he becomes the latest character to
expound at length on History, putting Theign into some kind of context:
"That he should have pursued his schemes from Venice ..." etc. A
juxtaposition of 'old' and 'new' (perhaps "the more ancestral" and whatever
replaced it) comes with: "Other nations, Americans notoriously, style
themselves 'republican' and think they understand republics ..." etc.

As this scene opens, half-way down 867, "the Prince [is] in the entry before
the valleto could even take Cyprian's hat". As the section closes, a couple
of pages later, "before he knew it, Cyprian was back out on the salizzada"
(869), the Prince having appeared and disappeared abruptly. And note Theign
as an "apparition" on 865.